Biology

Physiology

Wobbuffet is a tall, cyan-colored blob-like creature with a black tail that has two eye-spots on it. Wobbuffet has flipper-like arms and a crooked expression on its face, as opposed to the perpetual smile that its pre-evolved form has. Its face, as with Wynaut, is an east Asian emote. It also walks on four stubby legs at its base.

Gender differences

Female Wobbuffet appear to be wearing lipstick.

Special abilities

Wobbuffet seems to be highly skilled at countering enemy attacks, but not much else. It is also greatly tolerant of enemy attacks and can endure more attacks than most other Pokémon. If it is knocked out, it is capable of taking the attacker down with it, although it will usually only attempt this if its tail is attacked.

Behavior

Wobbuffet are typically stoic Pokémon, but they hate light and shock. In a battle, Wobbuffet never make the first move. Their preferred style of battling mainly consists of counterattacks, depending entirely on how harshly they are damaged by their foes. It will inflate its body in order to do so. Wobbuffet are very protective of their tails, to the point where one will suddenly turn uncharacteristically aggressive if its tail is targeted by an enemy. If a Wobbuffet takes an attack on its tail, it will not attempt a counterattack, instead opting to use Destiny Bond. When two or more Wobbuffet meet, they tend to turn competitive in some kind of play and will often try to test each other's endurance. These tests of endurance can include a competition to see who can go the longest without eating, which their Trainers should be wary about.

Habitat

Owing mainly to their overprotective nature where their pitch-black tails are concerned, as well as their hatred of light, Wobbuffet live in dark places, usually caves, in order to keep their tails perpetually hidden. Some can be found near bodies of water, namely lakes Acuity, Valor, and Verity in the Sinnoh region. Since these lakes are surrounded by dense forests and Wobbuffet that live near these lakes can only be lured into appearing before Trainers by the Poké Radar, it can be implied that Wobbuffet will also live in forests, provided that they are dense and dark enough to hide their tails. There is also a large population of Wobbuffet in Wobbuffet Village seen in Wobbu-Palooza, where most residents have a Wobbuffet. Every year, the village holds the Wobbuffet Festival to honor the spirit of the Wobbuffet.

Diet

In the anime

Major appearances

Jessie has a Wobbuffet that frequently emerges from its Poké Ball to shout its name or cause what Jessie considers to be trouble. It has appeared in almost every episode since she accidentally traded her Lickitung for it in Tricks of the Trade. She rarely uses Wobbuffet in battle, but when she does, the results are generally good. On the other hand, Jessie's few attempts at using Wobbuffet in Contests have all had negative results. It was left at Team Rocket's headquarters prior to Jessie, James and Meowth's departure to the Unova region.

In the TCG

In the TFG

Other appearances

When released from a Poké Ball, Wobbuffet will stand on the stage in one place. Anyone attacking or running into it will be damaged by its Counter, apart from the player who threw the Poké Ball, who will only be knocked back.

Wobbuffet is also a Poké Float in Melee. It appears on its side and never fully reveals itself. When it first appears, it will quickly return off-screen but will then come back and remain to allow for fighting to take place on top of it.

Melee trophy information

A Patient Pokémon, Wobbuffet lives in darkness to hide its mismatched black tail. Even for a stoic Pokémon, this creature is a testament to self-control; it will not actively attack an opponent. Its Counter and Mirror Coat moves are solely used for reflecting attacks directly back at its antagonist.

Brawl trophy information

"A Patient Pokémon. A nocturnal, cave-dwelling creature, Wobbuffet is calm and collected, but it will fight back viciously if its black tail is attacked--this hints at something secretive about its tail. If Wobbuffet is put into battle, the opponent cannot run away or switch. Females have lipsticklike markings around their mouths."

Game data

NPC appearances

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team: Wobbuffet and Wynaut send the player on a mission into the Uproar Forest. As thanks for completing it, they help to remodel the rescue base. Notably, the Wobbuffet is the only Pokémon in the entire game that doesn't speak in a way the player can understand; it only says its own name. However, this may be an oversight by the translators, since in Explorers of Sky (as mentioned below) it does not speak this way.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky: Wobbuffet (confirmed to be female by its lipstick) once again joins Wynaut, only this time, they're running a shop in the Spinda Cafe, called the Recycle Shop. Unlike the first game, it no longer says its name, and instead says "That's right!"

If two or more Wobbuffet meet, they will turn competitive and try to outdo the other's endurance. However, they may try to see which one can endure the longest without food. Trainers need to beware of this habit.

Wobbuffet does nothing but endure attacks - it won't attack on its own. However, it won't endure an attack on its tail. When that happens, the Pokémon will try to take the foe with it using Destiny Bond.

Trivia

If the opponent does not attack Wobbuffet, Wobbuffet cannot harm the opponent except with Struggle (itself unusable unless Wobbuffet has run out of moves).

It is also the only Pokémon that is able to have evolved that can't learn any TMs nor HMs.

Wobbuffet was banned from many unofficial tournaments until Generation V, due to its unique moveset and Ability, Shadow Tag, making it somewhat difficult to counter.

Before Generation IV, Wobbuffet could not damage a Ghost- or Dark-type Pokémon (without the use of Struggle) that uses an attack of its own type because all Ghost moves were physical (the Ghost type is immune to Counter) and all Dark moves were special (the Dark type is immune to Mirror Coat). It is still not possible for Wobbuffet to counter the Ghost/Dark typed Sableye or Spiritomb without the assistance of another Pokémon using moves such as Foresight and/or Miracle Eye first.

In Generation III, if two Wobbuffet with Leftovers are facing each other in a Single Battle, the battle will become endless as all of Wobbuffet's moves do not directly damage the opponent, and the player cannot switch to their other Pokémon due to Shadow Tag. Even if the Wobbuffet use Struggle, the damage will be healed quickly by Leftovers. Shadow Tag and Struggle were both changed in Generation IV, likely as a direct response to this scenario.

Origin

Wobbuffet may be based on the late Japanese comedian 林家三平 Sanpei Hayashiya, who was famous for repeatedly touching his hand to his forehead while saying one of his trademark lines, そうなんす、奥さん sō nansu, okusan, "That's the way it is, ma'am." In addition, its form and available moves may be based on a punching bag; that is, when it is hit, it bounces back. Alternatively, it may be based on the concept of Karma as it can only cause damage if it is attacked first, and Karma being an aspect of religion explains its Psychic typing. Wobbuffet may also be based on an Okiagari-koboshi doll, a Japanese traditional doll with squinted eyes that stands back upright when pushed over.

Name origin

Wobbuffet is a combination of wobble and buffet (to strike repeatedly), referring to its punching-bag shape.

Sonans is homophonous with the interjection そうなんす sō na-n-su, which roughly means, "That's the way it is." It is played off by its pre-evolution, Wynaut, whose Japanese name, Sohnano, is nearly homophonous with the phrase そうなの sō na no, meaning, "Really?" Together, they make for a potential perpetual conversation of, "Really?" followed by, "That's the way it is," and so on, as seen in Camp Pikachu.

Other languages' names for the Pokémon in this family, due to the fact that they were introduced in different generations, do not feature this pun.

In other languages

Language

Title

Meaning

Japanese

ソーナンス Sonans

From そうなんす sō na-n-su

French

Qulbutoke

A play on Culbuto (the French trademarked name for Weebles) and the expression OK